Sunday’s Gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary (Matthew 18:21-35) continues the same scene as last week, and leaves us with a remarkable, simple, working definition of forgiveness. If you are a regular reader of these weekly meditations, you know that I often point out places where historically we Christians have misconstrued the teachings of the […]
Church Discipline — A Meditation on Matthew 18:15-20
This Sunday the Gospel text is Matthew 18:15-20, a classic text in discussions of church discipline, and the first of two weeks the Revised Common Lectionary will spend in Matthew 18. Though I seem constitutionally incapable of writing a genuinely short meditation, I’ll try to confine myself to a few observations on this text, especially […]
Get Behind Me and Take Up Your Cross
A Monday Meditation on Matthew 16:21-28 — Year A, Proper 17(22) On the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, the Gospel reading in the Revised Common Lectionary is Matthew 16:21-28, where Jesus meekly says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” That is, we pick up where we left off last week. The pause between last week’s part […]
Matthew 16:13-20 — The Rock, the Keys, and the Gates of Hell
Matthew 16:13-20 is Sunday’s lectionary Gospel. I set out to make just a few brief observations. It has been one of those pandemic weeks when I found myself simply running on empty. I suspect you know the feeling. I’ll pray for you, and hope you’ll do the same for me. In the end, because the […]
A Children’s Sermon on Matthew 14:22-33
There are at least three options when creating a children’s sermon on Matthew 14:22-33. There is the story of Jesus walking on the water. There is the story of Peter trying to walk on the water too. But there is also the story before anybody thinks about walking on water: the story of Jesus seeking […]